Charline "Kitty" Amelianovich Taber

Charline "Kitty" Amelianovich Taber, 98½, died December 23, 2025. Born June 19, 1927, Chicago, IL to her parents Esther Hurley Vogel Sullivan and Alvin Vogel. Proceeded in death by her son Stephen L Amelianovich, her husbands, Stephen Amelianovich and David Taber; and her siblings, Virginia “Ginna” Vogel Straub, Alvin “Doug” Douglas Vogel, Eugene Vogel and Kathy Sullivan Matthews.

Survived by her children, Renee Amelianovich Freireich (Gary Freireich; Tom Ryan) and Douglas Amelianovich (Evriklia “Kathy” Stefantos); her brother William Sullivan; her grandchildren, Lena Freireich (Michael Curtin), Ben Freireich (Mia Yamamoto), Erik Amelianovich, Jessica Amelianovich, and Stephen M Amelianovich; and her great-grandchildren, Kei Yamamoto, Mia Yamamoto, Rei Freireich and Admiral Freireich.

Kitty faced early challenges with resilience. First by losing her 21 month old brother Eugene when she was only a few weeks old. Then when she was three, she lost her father. Early in life she was raised by her maternal grandmother while her mother worked to support them. From a young age, she demonstrated independence and responsibility, caring for younger cousins as early as six years old. She also started writing plays and acting in them at a very early age with her sister Ginna.

In her late teens, when her family moved to California, Kitty chose to remain in Chicago to build a life of her own. She worked various jobs and formed lasting friendships that became a vital part of her support system. At age 23, she married Stephen Amelianovich and later welcomed three children: Stephen “Steve” at 28, Renee at 31, and Douglas “Doug” at 34. They lived in Old Town, Lincoln Park and then moved to Evanston. Her marriage to Stephen Amelianovich lasted for 20 years and although it ended in divorce they remained close friends until his death in 2000.

Kitty nurtured a lifelong passion for the arts. She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and continued through its Adult Continuing Education program. Her creative pursuits included training at Second City and the Shira Piven Workshop. She contributed to radio voice-over projects, working at WIND radio, modeling for brochures and fashion illustration, worked in educational films, children’s theater, and many stage productions.

Her intellectual curiosity extended beyond the arts into music, photography, psychology, science, geography, cooking, and literature. At age 50, she married David Taber; their marriage lasted ten years.

She had a tremendous sense of humor and really enjoyed her family, art, music and films. In liue of flowers please donate to WTTW/PBS.